Please note: the version of In Touch sent out before this one had incorrect links from the previous edition.

Please find correct links in THIS email! 

- Communications Team

 November 2024

In Touch is a quarterly e-newsletter about developing one's competence as a Feldenkrais® teacher. Issues will contain articles about teaching the Feldenkrais Method® of somatic education, running your own business, and more.

Photo by Nick Abrams

How can a teacher of Awareness Through Movement® lessons be inventive?

How does one work with historical documents like the transcripts of Dr. Feldenkrais teaching at Alexander Yannai or Amherst to bring to life an in-depth process of embodied self-discovery for students in this day and age?

What kind of understanding and practice is needed in order to become a composer of original Awareness Through Movement lessons that innovate by bringing this established form of pedagogy into previously uncharted waters?

These questions are addressed by our three contributors to this edition of
In Touch in two lively video interviews and an entertaining case study.

Feldenkrais® trainer Raz Ori was interviewed by In Touch editor Seth Dellinger. Raz gives the back story to his journey of discovering Awareness Through Movement, learning to teach and then refining his discoveries over the course of his career to the point where he could offer class series and workshops composed of original lessons. He also talks about some of the strategies he uses to bring trainees in his programs into this 'art form.'

Assistant Trainer, Olena Nitefor, known for her 5-day ATM®-only workshops, also spoke with Seth. She shares in detail how she reimagined her approach to teaching group classes at various points in her career, eventually asking how an ATM lesson could become as rich as exquisite Functional Integration® lessons? This interview includes a number of very specific suggestions for practitioners on the use of language when speaking about the human body.

Russ Mitchell, a practitioner who is also an experienced martial artist, writes an account of how he created a personalized Awareness Through Movement class for a client with an unusual request, a belly dancer who wanted to perfect her performance with lightsabers! In his article, Russ walks through the specific challenges of this circumstance and how he invited his client into exploratory learning to overcome them.

You can bring your experiences and questions on this topic to the next edition of In Touch Live on Saturday December 7 at 9am PST/12pm EST.

Raz Ori and Olena Nitefor will be on the call to dialogue with you!

Click here to register.

We hope to see you there.

Joe, Jane, Michelle & Seth

Feldenkrais® trainer Raz Ori talks to In Touch editor Seth Dellinger about being a student, teacher and composer of Awareness Through Movement® lessons.

Click here to experience an original ATM lesson by Raz!

About Raz:

Raz Ori is a Feldenkrais® trainer and the Educational Director of the Feldenkrais Training Programs in Ann Arbor Michigan and Palermo Sicily and guest teaches for trainings in Israel, Germany, Italy, France and the UK. He graduated in 2001 and trained for two more years with Yochanan Rywerant, one of Dr. Feldenkrais’ first students. Raz runs The Ramat-Aviv Feldenkrais Center, where he teaches Awareness Through Movement® classes and gives individual Functional Integration® lessons. Raz gained clinical experience working for 15 years at Clalit Integrative Medicine, part of Israel’s largest public health provider. He has also worked at the Sheba Medical Center with disabled war veterans. Raz is also a certified JKA practitioner working with special needs children. He teaches advanced trainings and conducts online mentoring groups.

His website is https://www.razori.co.il/razori

Assistant Trainer Olena Nitefor talks to In Touch editor Seth Dellinger about the process she went through to understand what transforms the Awareness Through Movement® lessons experience from being a 'lesson' to a personal 'quest.'

About Olena:

Olena graduated in 1987 and maintains a private practice in Toronto, Canada. Since 1995 she has taught in training programs in North America and Europe (functional anatomy, assisting, and teaching five-day curricula). For over 25 years her focus has grown towards developing graduates’ FI® skills beyond the preliminaries learned in basic training. Although she still teaches in basic trainings, her main work is developing extensive advanced training curricula. Recognizing that many graduates wished to deepen their personal and teaching understanding of ATM® lessons, she teaches five day ATM® Intensives for practitioners.  Multiple ATM® recordings are available on OpenATM.com. 

Go to https://olenanitefor.com/ to join Olena's mailing list, receive a series of ATMs and announcements for her 2025 workshop series.

Photo by Tyler Lastovich

I was surprised when my colleague Michelle Poston told me that she had a dance student doing a lightsaber routine. I teach fencing in both the more and less traditional guises, and when Michelle told me that her and her student's schedule didn't match, I was happy to step in.

About Russ:

Russ Mitchell is a Practitioner living and working in the DFW area and the author of several Practice-related books such as The Weightless Ribbon and Basic Body Mechanics For Martial Artists. His practice focuses primarily on skill development for remedial athletes and staying mobile into old age.

His website is https://www.irvingfeldenkrais.com/

MARK YOUR CALENDAR: JOIN US FOR IN TOUCH LIVE!

Join In Touch Live! an interactive conversation with Raz Ori and Olena Nitefor, hosted by In Touch editor Seth Dellinger to dialogue about "Awareness Through Movement Lessons and the art of invention."

This live event takes place on Saturday, December 7 at 12pm EST. 

Watch the interviews first so you can ask great questions!

Register now!